1994 Rover 820

When you think you have checked every dimension and clearance its worth checking again. With so many moving parts and different angles involved in the front suspension, hubs, brake discs, calipers, brake hoses, driveshafts, top arms, bottom arms, anti roll bars, steering rack all moving differently at different steering angles and compression or extension levels while driving and steering I was very thorough, checked it all in the air and on the ground, after a couple of hundred road miles checked it all again, all seemed ok or so I thought.
But had not anticipated the extra travel caused by the front suspension under maximum compression when braking hard over bumps (paddock bend and approach to Druids) I have much stiffer springs, bump stops and not much travel anyway because it is lowered but not nearly as much as some cars.
See picture below, it is obvious to me now but missed it when putting it all together.



I still didnt see it till I started to pull the suspension apart to fit the bushes.

Back to the brake problem, this is what was happening.
With the damper and spring removed and suspension jacked up to full compression the lower arm moved upward naturally turning the ball joint outwards, making contact with the brake disc, with the ball joint pushing the disc outwards at the bottom and the caliper squeezing the disc in the opposite direction, the loads must have been enormous, I regard myself as a fool to miss this and at the same time very lucky nothing broke, a near miss and hopefully a lesson learned.



A better view of the damage to the lower arm and nut.

Well I suppose that could account for your brake judder! As you say, lucky nothing broke and it looks like a fair old amount of heat has gone through that nut judging by the colour of it

Sounds like your fix should do the job though

Almost back together so bit of an update.
Caliper brackets back with 3mm removed to move the calipers outwards away from the hub and ball joint, the disc mounting bells have also been machined 3mm to move the discs out by the same amount. Then the wheel wouldnt clear the caliper so had to fit 3mm wheel spacers. I havent put the car back on the ground yet so hope the tyres clear the arches otherwise even more work.


With the springs removed I was able to jack the suspension all the way past the bump stops and fortunately the 3mm move is enough to prevent the ball joint making contact with the disc again.
Even so with the ride height lowered the shock absorber was always working in an almost fully compressed state and would hit the bump stops to much, so much stiffer springs have been fitted up from 1200lbs to 1600lbs to reduce movement as well as stiffer bump stops.



The standard bump stop against the new yellow stop that has been cut down to one section since this pic, I was also able to alter the top spring seat to gain some more travel.



With the original top mount bushes removed the spring seat sits nicely in the cup allowing that bit more travel.
Before


After


All new harder black bushes are fitted to lower arms, struts, tie bars and anti roll bar so hope this will tighten everything up at the front even more. I also reversed the helper spring from top to bottom as they had been catching the top edge of the shock.



Hopefully this lot will prevent any more damage and fix the cause of the judder, I am prepared for the discs to need an on car skim though.

The bumper bracket needed more alterations, it had metal removed when the intercooler was fitted years ago but needed to move the intercooler back a bit and make clearance for the oil coolers and pipes.
So here goes with my TIG welder, I have some arc welding experience but fired up the TIG for the first time last week so its not pretty.
Some cutting and removing




Its not pleasing to the eye but I think it is attached ok




At this stage in my TIG career I am going to treat it the same as when I attempted to play Golf and enjoy the rare occasion when a shot went as I visioned, not perfect but I am happy with this particular weld so this is the one I am going to remember.

Thanks Adam yep there is plenty of weld in there, with a coat of paint, the bumper and lights back on most of it is hidden.

This is with all the coolers and pipework now fitted and filled with oil, no leaks so far but not had it running yet.



With the bumper back on they pretty much disappear.

You're the kind of person the car scene needs. It's not a bout the badge, it's not about the street cred, it's not about trying to be anything to anyone other than yourself. It's simply about personal investment, great engineering and of course, fun.

Fair play to you, I'm in awe.

And for the record, I love Rovers.

Chris

Blimey, thank you Chris and SamR380, I am never quite sure how people see my car, most don't even notice it which sometimes makes it all the more fun but praise like that makes it all worth the effort and is very appreciated, cheers
Jim

Cheers optimusprime, again much appreciated.
I promised the family I would stay out of the garage for a couple of weeks as thats where I was for the last couple of months, just emerging for work, sleep and food. As soon as I am allowed back in there I will add some updates.